


The House on the Cliffside

by ConCorpRepresentative



Category: Hermitcraft
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-19
Updated: 2019-11-19
Packaged: 2021-02-13 08:22:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21491290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConCorpRepresentative/pseuds/ConCorpRepresentative
Summary: There's a House on the Cliffside where the windows change and the doors move.There's a Hermit in the house who holds secrets beyond anything seen.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 80





	The House on the Cliffside

**Author's Note:**

> most of this was written at like 3am,,, i'm aware it's not that good,,

The town was small, and news travelled fast.

Everyone knew everyone, and secrets were scarcely kept.

Well, besides the House on the Cliffside.

The House on the Cliffside had always been in the town. Some people said that it was the first building in the town, and others said it was the oldest building in the country. What was certain, however, was that the person that lived in the House was definitely not the oldest in the country.

His name was Joe Hills, and that was the most personal information people knew about him. He was, by all means, a Hermit. Rarely seen outside of the house, it got the point where many inhabitants of the town forgot he even existed. Even when he did leave the house, any attempts at conversation was met with strange poems and riddles. No one knew what to think of him, and he gave them no clues.

The building itself was very large- closer to a mansion than a house. Made from thick stone and dark wood, it held an intimidating nature. The unnatural vibe wasn’t the only strange thing, however. The kids of the town had counted the windows many times, and each time they claimed to have ended up with a different number. The adults dismissed it, of course, but couldn’t help noticing that the windows did seem to move.

There used to be a balcony, or so the elders said. Over the front door; a wide balcony with a chess table and chairs sat. They said that one day it was there, and the next it wasn’t. Again, the adults dismissed it, but they always remembered seeing the balcony as a child.

I lied, perhaps.

There was one person who was familiar- if not friendly- with Joe Hills. Her name was Cleo, and she was new.

She had only moved into the town a year or so previously, and had quickly shown that she was different. She was… alternative compared to the stereotype of the town’s women.

Despite being told not to many times, one day she came to the House on the Cliffside, and knocked on the door. And much to the surprise of the whole town, she was let in.

From then on, she would visit the house multiple times a week, bringing books and baked goods with her. And when anyone dared to inquire about the nature of the strange Hermit, she would just smile and reply with the same phrase.

“The House on the Cliffside is nothing out of the realm of existence.”

It was Hallowe’en. All of the children in the village were dressed up in shabby homemade costumes, and ran around taking cheap sweets from cheap parents. Despite the small town nature usually bringing boredom, Hallowe’en was always a time that embraced that nature. Lamps were strung up throughout all of the streets, and decorations were realistic and often horrifying.

For a mostly Christian town, Hallowe’en was celebrated in an overwhelmingly Pagan way.

Just across the road from the House on the Cliffside lived Cub and Scar. They had moved into the town a few years before Cleo, and had flown under the radar- despite opening a small bakery.

The bakery was Cub’s pride and joy, and for months he had been attempting to pitch a baking show to various TV studios. All of his attempts had failed, however, and his dreams of being a TV Baker were pretty much crushed.

On Hallowe’en night, they were preparing to go out.

“We’re too old for it, Scar.” Cub shrugged, uncomfortably adjusting the pirate costume Scar had made.

“Yeah, well we’re not going Trick or Treating!” Scar grinned, carefully adjusting his pirate hat.

“Why are we dressing up then?” Cub asked, “Don’t get me wrong, I...  _ love  _ these costumes, but… what’s it for?”

“We’re gonna go and visit Joe Hills!” He turned around, beaming.

“What? Scar, we can’t!”

“Why not?”

“No one does! It’s- it’s- uh… he’s-”

“You can’t think of a reason why not.” Scar laughed under his breath.

“You’ve got me there. Why, though?”

“Have you seen the decorations he’s put up on the house? He’s so prepared for Hallowe’en! It’s like he wants people to go up there.”

“Oh?”

“And besides, I saw Cleo go in there. And I want to see what they always spend time doing in that house.”

“Okay, okay. I know what you’re getting at.” Cub shrugged, “If this is what you want to do, I trust you.”

Scar once again grinned, and he grabbed a plastic sword to complete his outfit. He handed another one to Cub, and rushed through to their kitchen.

“I meant to ask you,” Cub followed, leaning on the doorframe, “Did you get the letter?”

He continued to buzz about, emptying sweets into a bowl to be left outside. Without a word, he pointed to an open letter on the table. Cub picked it up.

‘ _ Dear Sir/Madam, _

_ We regret to inform you that you have not been accepted into HermitVille University of Arts a- _ ‘

He stopped reading, and looked up the Scar. Scar had been trying to go back to university for years, and each time he was refused, his confidence took a plummet.

“Scar, do you want to talk about it?”

He turned around- still grinning- but this time with sad eyes.

“Come on Cub, let’s go.”

They left the house in their pirate costumes, forgetting about the letter as they quickly became immersed in the mood of the town. Kids ran around screaming, parents begrudgingly following, and the adults revelled in giving out gifts and small scares.

When they reached the House on the Cliffside, the oil lamps of the town had faded a bit. The House was decorated with tacky Halloween decorations, giant plastic spiders positioned high up on the building. The bowl of sweets on the porch was still full- no one had even gone near to the House.

They knocked on the door.

It opened.

“Trick or Treat!” Scar shouted. Cub playfully slapped him on the arm, and broke out laughing.

“Hi Joe.” Cub smiled.

Joe Hills was also dressed in a Halloween costume.

He wore a red tunic with baggy grey trousers and a belt bringing in the waist. There was a high collar, and big shoulder armour drawn together by a chain. He also wore knee high boots and a grey cloak.

“Hello there Cub, Scar!” He smiled. The friends were unsure how he knew their name, “What brings you to Strahd Von Zarovich’s Castle?”

“Strahd Von- who now?” Scar asked, craning his head to look into the hallway behind Joe.

“The Vampire Lord from the Curse of Strahd- a Dungeons and Dragons adventure. He lives in Castle Ravenloft, and rules over the land of Baro-”

“Joe!” Cleo’s voice echoed from the hall as she came down the stairs, “Don’t infodump- ask why they’re here.”

“My bad, Cleo. What brings you gentlemen here?” 

“I saw the decorations, and you look so prepared for Hallowe’en.” Scar smiled, “We know you don’t get many visitors, so we wanted to make your efforts worth it.”

“Nothing like a good old visit from the ConVex Bakery!” Cub relaxed a bit.

“The Bakery?” Cleo ducked under Joe’s arm and out of the house. She wore a Zombie Hallowe’en costume, and it suited her very much, “Did you… bring anything?”

“Any baked goods?” Joe echoed.

Scar froze, slowly turning his head to look at Cub. They stared at each other for a good few seconds, raising eyebrows and shrugging in an attempt to communicate. Cleo and Joe burst out laughing.

“Come in, come in!” Cleo took a step aside.

“Let’s cook something together!” Joe added on, ushering the two in.

The house was extravagant on the inside as it was on the out. The walls were panelled dark oak, spruce skirting boards and ceilings. There were paintings and mirrors with extravagant frames, and even armour stands donned with elaborate sets of chain and iron. Cub and Scar watched in awe as Joe led them through the red-carpeted halls, and into a large kitchen.

In the kitchen, there was a furnace. No electrical oven or stove, just a stone furnace. There was, admittedly, an electric fridge, but that was just about the only modern thing they had seen. Cleo sat on the wooden table in the room, and Joe leant on the doorframe.

“Make yourself at home! Tell us what to do and we’ll bake it!” He folded his arms.

Cub picked up a recipe book from the counter and began to flick through it. It was leatherbound, and the pages seemed to be empty on the first flick through.

“Uh, this book is empty.” He looked back up.

“Is it?” Cleo smiled. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked back down to the book.

As if by magic, he found a simple recipe for brownies on the same page.

Scar opened the cupboards, looking through for any flour or sugar.

“The cupboard is just filled with pickles and tinned soup…” Scar looked away, “Not to be rude, I myself love soup.”

Joe frowned.

“That’s peculiar. I swear I saw some in there.”

Scar shrugged, looking back into the cupboard.

His eyes immediately met with a pack of flour and sugar.

\----

The four of them spent hours baking batch upon batch of brownies. Many a time, Joe stumped the group with a riddle of ridiculous answer. Cleo was usually the first to answer, and took great delight in bragging about her success.

A common factor in Cub and Scar’s kitchen was to have quarrels. Nothing of substance, of course, just bickering about presentation and taste. However, with the added chaotic energy of Joe and Cleo, they all ended up flinging flour at each other.

It was Cub who made the first move. Scar had made a joke about his height, and so he climbed up onto the kitchen surface and dumped the entirety of the sugar into Scar’s hair. Scar screamed and turned around, reflexively throwing a whisk at his aggressor.

It just escalated from there, forming two teams. The ‘Utensil Warriors’ consisting of Scar and Cleo throwing kitchen tools at the other team- The ‘Substance Sorcerers’ (just Cub and Joe dumping the contents of the cupboards onto the other two.

When all resources were exhausted, and all brownies had finished baking, the four of them migrated to the living room.

Scar shook his head, launching an excess of sugar into the fireplace. The low burning embers suddenly burst into life once more. Proud with his achievement, he let out a faux evil laugh. Cub, Cleo, and Joe had all sat together underneath a blanket, and Scar dogpiled onto them all.

The atmosphere died down as they sat in silence, in warmth.

“Joe, can I ask you a question?” Cub whispered.

“Go ahead, my friend.”

“Why is everyone afraid of your House?”

Joe quietened down.

“There are little bits of magic in the world.” His eyes glinted, “Some people can’t face that.”

“Magic?” Scar’s eyebrow rose.

“You aren’t scared of magic, though.” Joe smiled, “And we really really appreciate that.”

“We appreciate you letting us into your house for a great evening.” Scar muttered.

“It is getting quite late.” Cleo looked to Joe, “You might want to get going soon.”

“Oh?” Cub asked.

“The House changes at night.” Joe stood from the floor, and began guiding the pair to the door.

“What do you mean by change?”

“You’ve noticed the number of windows changing. Everyone has.” Cleo followed behind, “I have a lot of fun exploring the House when it changes each day.”

The door opened. Just as they were saying goodbye, Cub felt a ping from his phone. Joe’s eyes glistened.

On his phone, there was a notification- an email from a TV company he’d messaged months ago. An acceptance for Cub’s Baking show. He looked to Joe in awe, and Joe smiled.

“Before you go.” Cleo picked something from the floor and handed it to Scar, “We got this letter for you.”

Scar opened the letter. It was an acceptance letter for a University of Art. Scar looked to Cleo in awe, and Cleo smiled.

“There’s pockets of magic in this village. It’s not that hard to control it when you know how.”

As Cub and Scar walked away from the House on the Cliffside, they couldn’t help feeling like the town around them was a little more at peace.

The town was small, and news travelled fast.

Everyone knew everyone, and secrets were scarcely kept.

Well, besides the House on the Cliffside.

The secrets of the House were never revealed.


End file.
